Connie Post Team Converts Lowes Building To Cardi’s Furniture & Mattresses
Furniture World News Desk on
5/16/2016
Connie Post and her Affordable Design Solutions team recently announced the newest location of Cardi’s Furniture & Mattresses at3005 Cranberry Hwy in Wareham, MA. The new location came in the form of a 22-foot load-bearing firewall that separated the first 4,000 square feet of the former big-box home improvement store from the rest of the interior.
Faced with an immense obstacle that could not be moved, Post and her team rose to the challenge, transforming the wall with a grand, Disney-esque design that is part casual beach house—with the scale and proportions of a real home covered in ship-lap so prevalent in this coastal community—and part hip, urban, industrial warehouse with enormous sliding barn doors and faux brick indicative of a downtown loft.
“Consumers decide within seconds whether they will shop a store or turn heel and leave,” says Post. “To engage shoppers, it’s critical that the first few thousand square feet of any retail space delivers an immediate wow. In creating the newest Cardi’s store, the architectural elements we applied to the wall make a dramatic statement designed to awe and intrigue customers and imbue the Cardi’s brand with a modern sensibility that will attract Millennials. The moment you walk in you can feel the energy, and you know this is not your father’s furniture store. In fact, during the set-up leading up to the grand opening this weekend, all the young guys on the team were exclaiming, ‘It’s the most beautiful store I’ve ever seen!”
“The energy generated by the visual stimulation has and continues to contribute to an incredibly satisfying shopping experience,” say Nick, Ron and Peter (NiRoPe) Cardi, brothers and owners of Cardi’s Furniture & Mattresses. “From Millennials with children in strollers to Baby Boomers and all demographics in-between, everyone is inspired by and loving their newest place to shop for beautiful home furnishings and comfortable mattresses. Opening weekend told the whole story: Customer after customer came in, each blown away by the first impression our new Wareham location makes!”
As customers pass through the grand entry, orbs of tiny white lights hanging from above and an array of modern chandeliers beckon them forward. All are suspended from a 22-foot ceiling with exposed trusses and pipes painted in bird’s egg blue. Just beyond the wall, the ceiling drops to 14-feet in height and a series of large-scale drum shades lit with blue lights lead shoppers to the center hub of the 62,000-square-foot store highlighted by a blue, circular cornice and string curtains.
“Cardi’s brand identity is associated with the color blue,” Post describes. “This is the first time I’ve ever used colored lights to subtly reinforce a brand, but the result is eye-catching, totally cool and draws you to the center of the store.”
Along the way, customers are met with dynamic lifestyle presentations centered around massive fireplaces and large-scale windows featuring out-size graphics. “When I say ‘large graphics,’ I mean really large, as in a surfer catching a wave that spans 30 feet in one area. The look is young, artistic and energetic, and lends a sense of the fantastic to the shopping experience. In developing the look, I was inspired by presentations I viewed at the most recent Maison Objet and while shopping in Paris, where the trend in new retail is definitely toward enormous graphics that set the scene for sofas and more.”
Standout departments include bedding and youth furniture. “The bedding department feels like a Pottery Barn catalog shoot, with shiplap, dark iron and beautiful wood floors,” Post relates. “Our team developed a blue-and-white graphic package specifically for Cardi’s that delivers pertinent messaging to shoppers. The kid’s area is my trademarked design, featuring brightly colored Chinese lanterns suspended from a door hanging from the ceiling. From the bright magenta entry to the really fun vignettes, the department really pops.”
According to Post, the new store, with its residential-style interior and mid-century accents, was designed to be a magnet for younger shoppers. “The shopping experience here captures your attention at every turn, and the exciting space is easy to work as well. Thanks to the phenomenal sight lines we’ve created, walking down the center aisle, salespeople can keep an eye on customers without crowding them while they shop. That gives them the room they need to enjoy the wow moments!”
More About Connie Post: Renowned as a retail design strategist, author, trend translator and developer of both product and brands, Connie Post has built a career on understanding where consumers are, what they want most, and where they are going next. As the standard bearer of visual marketing in the home furnishings industry for the past three decades, she is responsible for the look of more than 20 million square feet of retail and wholesale space around the globe. Driven by a design philosophy that relentlessly emphasizes affordability and return-on-investment (ROI), her firm—Connie Post Affordable Design—is committed to providing retailers and manufacturers with fresh and innovative environments that elevate the guest experience.